Tory treasurer becomes Lord Fink

The co-treasurer of the Conservative Party took up his seat as Lord Fink today.

The man described as "the Godfather" of the hedge fund industry, Lord Fink runs hedge fund International Standard Asset Management and was the chief executive of the MAN Group. He has donated more than donated £1.9 million to his party in the last eight years.

Active in Jewish affairs, the new peer is chairman of the patrons of Liberal Judaism and co-chairman of the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies, as well as vice-president of the Jewish Leadership Council.

He joins another party treasurer in the House – Liberal Democrat Monroe Palmer.

Lord Palmer of Childs Hill, the former chair of Liberal Democrat Friends of Israel and a Barnet councillor for more than 25 years, took up his seat on Wednesday

Next week they will be joined by two more new Jewish peers. The onetime BBC chairman Michael Grade will also sit on the Conservative bench, while Jonathan Kestenbaum, previously the chief executive of the UJIA, will become a Labour peer.